A substantial volume of the cheese, bacon, frankfurters, sliced luncheon meat and other processed meats are sold in packages which are formed from flexible thermoplastic materials. The freshness of the product within the package is to a large measure dependent upon the fact that the thermoplastic package is hermetically sealed and has been evacuated and, in some instances, gas flushed. However, in many instances, when an evacuated package of this type is purchased not all of its contents are used at once by the customer. When the initial seal has been broken and part of the product removed it is difficult to reclose the package for satisfactory storage in a refrigerator; and, in order to preserve the contents in a fresh state without loss of flavor and texture, it is often necessary to completely repackage the product. To overcome this problem, there are many prior art package designs which offer means of opening and resealing but many of these have the disadvantage that wordly printed directions are needed and many times the thermoplastic packaging material is so stiff and so strong that even a carefully designed reclosure device can be destroyed. Thus, it is one object of the present invention to provide a strong, reliable means of resealing and closing a thermoplastic package which has been previously vacuum sealed.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a method and machine or apparatus for packaging a product in a reclosable package in a straight through process on a single machine rather than making a reclosable pouch on one machine and then performing the filling, evacuating, and sealing process on another machine.
Another problem which is encountered with prior art reclosable packages is the problem of manufacturing them at a commercially acceptable rate. Placing tear tabs, tear strips, or the like in combination with resealing means such as pressure sensitive adhesive strips calls for extreme care in registration and alignment of each of the packaging components and rather precise sealing must take place in order to achieve a satisfactory product. Accordingly, another of the objects of the present invention is to provide a method and apparatus for rapidly and reliably making a reclosable package.
The above objects and advantages of the present invention will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art from the description and drawings which follow below.